Din Heagney is a writer, editor and researcher in art and design culture.

I live and work on the unceded traditional lands and waters of the Dja Dja Wurrung (Djarra), Wadawurrung, Woi Wurrung Wurundjeri, and Bunurong First Nations.

Photo of Din in his studio (2025).

I was born in the leafy burbs of Melbourne, Australia, and named after my grandfather Dinny, who played for Geelong Football Club. My family moved to central Victoria, where my parents ran pubs, while I ran amuck.

After high school, I returned to Melbourne to study journalism at RMIT University, starting out as a radio producer and then editor of Desktop Magazine: Australian Design + Digital Culture.

I went on to create projects like The Art Pimp, co-direct Platform Artists Group with Anita King, guest edit Artlink and un Magazine, edit books including Making Space: ARIs in Victoria, John Ogden’s Portraits From a Land Without People, and manage catalogues for the Biennale of Sydney and Simryn Gill at the Venice Biennale.

My love for art and design allowed me to work and travel across the USA, Germany, Italy, Greece, and China, collaborating with other creatives while writing for The Art Life and Art21 Magazine.

After returning to Melbourne, I completed an MFA at the Victorian College of the Arts, examining disability and accessibility in the arts. I then shifted my focus toward creative research and higher education.

I taught design research and critical practice at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across RMIT and Monash Universities, and more recently began a PhD (Design) at RMIT University, examining Irish folklore and diaspora through speculative non/fiction and publication design.

I maintain an independent creative practice across writing, editing and publication design, collaborating in research and publishing.

 

recent work includes:

COLLABORATIONS:

Artists + Designers
Simone LeAmon
Lily Hibberd
Louise Whelan
Ash Keating
Selby Ginn
Pandarosa
Helen Leighton

Galleries
National Gallery of Australia (NGA)
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)
Benalla Art Gallery
CACSA
West Space
Kings ARI

Publishers + Magazines
Museums Victoria Publishing
Melbourne University Press Academic
Thames & Hudson Australia
Mer Paper Kunsthalle
Artlink: Australia & Asia Pacific
Art21 Magazine
The Art Life
un Projects
Cyclops Press
Victorian Initiative of Artists Network
Monument Magazine
Nylon Aust/NZ
Niche Media
The Flower Press

Organisations
City of Melbourne
Biennale of Sydney
Australia Council for the Arts (Venice Biennale)
National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)
Creative Victoria
Writing & Concepts Series
Channels Festival
Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA)
Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Midsumma Festival

Higher Education
University of New South Wales
Monash University
RMIT University

CV
Professional Services